Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark
Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are the Extreme display settings and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. World density is set to extreme, Vsync disabled, high-res textures are enabled, and shadow resolution, shadow filtering, screen space ambient occlusion, and quality motion blur are all set to high.
With an average performance increase that ranges from 14-15% over that of the already high-performance reference 980Ti the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI is off to a very, impressive start. After all this card only costs about 4.5% more than that self-same reference 980Ti. Now that is what we call a good value.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Metro: Last Light (SGB)
Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark
Metro: Last Light is a DX11 first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play. Scene D6 was used and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Very High for quality and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. DirectX 11 is used, texture filtering is set to AF 16X, motion blur is normal, SSA turned on and tessellation is set to high.
Metro is a darn tough game with all the eye candy turned on and yet the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI makes it look easy with numbers that are simply astonishing. We are quite literally seeing numbers here that are forty three percent better than what a vanilla GeForce GTX 980 can do – and about 14% better than what a reference GTX 980Ti can do. Simply stunning.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI -BioShock Infinite (SGB)
BioShock Infinite Gaming Benchmark
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games, and published by 2K Games released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are UltraDX11 (option 3) for quality and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1800.
BioShock Infinite posted some of the largest variance from one resolution to another. At 1080P the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI is ‘only’ 10.5% better than a stock 980Ti, yet at 1440P this difference balloons to over 16%. Obviously the combination of higher clock speeds helps more at lower resolutions, and wider bus helps more at higher resolutions. Either way this card offers both speed and bus width so it simply dominates the competition.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Tomb Raider (SGB)
Tomb Raider Gaming Benchmark
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game published by Square Enix and released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultimate default settings for quality (sans ‘hair’ shading), VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080.
Even strongly AMD centric titles like Tomb Raider is not enough to keep this monster down. Once again a mere thirty dollar additional investment nets double digit improvements.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Batman Arkham Origins (SGB)
Batman Arkham Origins Gaming Benchmark
Batman: AO is an action-adventure video game published by Warner Bros and released in October 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. Anti-Aliasing is set to TXAA (high). Motion blur, Distortion, Lens Flare, Light Shafts, and Reflections set to On. Geometry, Dynamic Shadows, Depth of Field, and Ambient Occlusion all set to DX11 Enhanced.
As with other games in our test suite, the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI simply blows past the rest of the pack and delivers numbers that are 30-40% better than what a stock GeForce GTX 980 can give, and about 9-10% better than a stock 980Ti.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Battlefield 4 (RWB)
Battlefield 4 Gaming Benchmark
Battlefield 4 is first person shooter video game, published by EA Digital Illusions CE and released in October 2013. Unlike most, this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming tests. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded the first 90 seconds of the single player Tashgar level. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultra pre-set for quality, with VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080.
Thanks to its extra wide 384-bit memory bus the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI simply loves Battlefield 4. Considering this game strongly favors AMD that really is saying something. Obviously this card is not a truly ‘unleashed’ Maxwell card, but honestly for less than half the cost of a Titan X we doubt anyone will complain about this level of performance!
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Assassins Creed: Black Flag (RWB)
Assassins Creed: Black Flag Gaming Benchmark
Assassins Creed: BF is an historical action-adventure video game, published by published by Ubisoft and released in October 2013. Like Battlefield 4 this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded a custom run through Havana’s marketplace. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. Environment quality was set to very high, Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X, Ambient Occlusion set to HBAO+ (high), Shadow Quality set to ‘soft shadow’, Motion Blur and Volumetric Blur both set to On. Texture Quality, Reflection Quality, and God Rays all set to High.
The more we test this video card the more we come to love what it has to offer. Yes it is expensive, but it easily justifies its high asking price with performance that simply blows the doors off anything else we have tested before. Maybe a stock Titan X would do even better…but we personally dislike the idea of having to sell a kidney to buy a video card!
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – CoD: Ghosts (RWB)
Call of Duty: Ghosts Gaming Benchmark
Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first person shooter video game, published by Activision and released in October 2013. Since it does not include an in-game benchmark, it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Ghost Stories’ level, starting as soon as we resume control of Logan back on Earth. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. Image Quality, Textures Resolution, Normal Map Resolution, and Specular Map Resolution set to Extra. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and Antistrophic Filtering set to High, Terrain Detail set to ON, and Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X. With Shadows, Distortion, Motion Blue and Depth of Field set to Yes.
The MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI is such a powerful card that at 1080P it nearly posts numbers high enough to max out a 60Hz monitor. That is rather impressive when you think about it.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Crysis 3 (RWB)
Crysis 3 Gaming Benchmark
Crysis 3 is a first person shooter video game, published by Electronic Arts and released in February 2013. While older than some of the others it is one of the most visually stunning games released to date and puts a lot of demands on the GPU. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Post Human’ level, starting as soon as soon as prophet is handed a Hammer II pistol by Psycho. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. Texture Quality, Game Effects, Objects, Particles, Post Processing, Shadows, Shading, Water, and System Specs all set to Very High. Motion Blur was set to High and Lens Flare was set to On. Anti-Aliasing was set to MSAA 8X and Antistrophic Filtering was set to 16x.
The combination of higher function SMMs’ with that nice and fat 384-bit memory bus means that even Crysis 3 is no match for the MSI Gaming 6G GTX 980TI. Even at 1440P this card will give you minimum frame count high enough to (nearly) meet our personal threshold of gaming enjoyment – 30fps. That is amazing…and we can just imagine what kind of game it will take to bring such a beast to its knees.
MSI Gaming 6G 980TI – Witcher 3 (RWB)
Witcher 3 Results
Witcher 3 is an action role-playing video game set in an open world environment, developed by Polish video game developer CD Projekt RED and released on May 2015.
Our test uses a real world timed benchmark that consists of three minutes of game play during the ‘Beast of the White Orchard’ quest. This section of the game incorporates everything from grass, to water, to hair, to numerous NPCs. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultra display settings, but with HairWorks off and Vsync disabled, at a resolution of 2560×1440 and 1920×1080.
Witcher 3 is a bloody tough game to properly run, and yet it is obvious that an overclocked 980TI was what its developers had in mind for ‘optimum’ gaming when they built it. We say this as 61.3fps on the minimums…at 1440P is pretty much going to be enjoyable for everyone.
